When Anthony Giancola began his new career as a financial adviser in late 2008, he brought lots of life experience to the role.

Giancola spent 21 years in the U.S. Army, including time in Bosnia and Iraq, before graduating from Buffalo State College with a business administration degree.

While exploring job options that would allow him to help a business become more efficient, a neighbor asked if he’d ever considered helping individuals use their finances more efficiently.

That led to the beginning of a career at New York Life Insurance Co. as a licensed agent.

“My goal is to see five new people each week,” he says. “I like to talk to people, have a conversation to draw out a problem they have, then try to solve that problem.”

Brian Casey, president of the Buffalo chapter of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, says financial advising can indeed be very gratifying but it’s also hard work – especially for newcomers.

Financial advisers work with clients to analyze their financial situation and plot out future goals. The process includes budgeting as well as exploring insurance coverage and investment opportunities. The education process for advisers is ongoing.

“This is a hard business,” Casey says. “It’s extremely rewarding in the long term, but you can’t be a short-term thinker.”

Ronald Moskala is a prime example of someone who found success relatively quickly after making a career shift. Moskala was 28 when he lost his job after a plant shut-down at Oneida Silver in Utica. He went back to college and earned a business degree, then took a job with Northwestern Mutual Financial Network in 2003. Seven years later, he is managing director for the Buffalo office, overseeing four offices.

“In the beginning, I started it as a job to make money,” he says. “Then as I realized what I was doing was really helping people put kids into college, helping people retire. I realized that, and that’s when it really became a career, not just a job.”

But Moskala’s story is the anomoly, says Casey, an independent financial planner at Mollot & Hardy Inc. in Amherst. The down economy has pushed lots of newcomers to the field, including both those who have lost their jobs and those who just want more control over their income and their time.

With an industry retention rate under 25 percent, Casey says anyone thinking of getting into the business needs to know that success takes time and lots of patience. Some companies start off advisers with a small subsidy of $1,500-$2,500 per month, but others are completely commission-based. For most advisers, it will take at least five to seven years to establish a solid base of customers – and a significant income.

Other career-shifters new to the business are seeing that firsthand: Michael Kreuzer became a financial adviser with Merrill Lynch in November after moving with his wife back to the Buffalo area from California. Previously he sold business software and spent time in the mortgage industry. Those experiences exposed him to people who needed advice with investments. “One of the things I learned was people really do need help managing their liabilities. It’s just as important as managing their assets,” he says.

Kreuzer is receiving a subsidy along with commissions through the company’s practice management development program for new advisers, but is working aggresively to meet goals and increase his income.

“It’s definitely not an overnight situation where you have success immediately,” he says. “That’s a decision for myself and my family that we were committing to the longterm.”

Joyce Holt hopes she has what it takes to be one of the survivors. Holt entered the business as an agent with New York Life in December after more than 15 years as a retail sales manager. That followed several years as a quality control manager at a plastics company. The appeal of financial advisement and insurance sales for Holt was the opportunity to help people.

Holt also liked the idea that she could work the hours that best suited her lifestyle, with time off for church and to visit family out of state. The first few months have been tough financially, but encouraging.

“I have a long ways to go, but I will say that I’ve done well enough to have the incentive to keep going,” she says.

Industries:

Comments

If you are commenting using a Facebook account, your profile information may be displayed with your comment depending on your privacy settings. By leaving the 'Post to Facebook' box selected, your comment will be published to your Facebook profile in addition to the space below.